


Sketching A Stranger

by gracie_glowsticks



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alex being Alex and working too hard and being flirty, Alternate Universe - College/University, Coffee, Coffee Shops, College, Embarrassment, Flirting, John getting himself into a pickle only he could get into, M/M, Sketching a Stranger, This was really cute to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 13:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13214286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracie_glowsticks/pseuds/gracie_glowsticks
Summary: Alexander decided he needed the brisk walk to the local coffee shop for a much-needed caffeine boost to continue working on an essay after a long night of studying.John went to his favorite café accompanied by his sketchbook in order to relax a little.Neither expected to see a handsome stranger.





	Sketching A Stranger

Getting three hours of sleep the night before an 8 a.m. is never a good idea. Alex should’ve learned this by now, considering this isn’t the first time that he has started to slump in class only to jolt straight up when he realizes he’s falling asleep, but his essay for Professor Washington’s class is more important than sleep could ever be. Of course, Professor Washington doesn’t agree; god, Alex can just hear that nagging voice in his head.

“Alexander, you need to take better care of yourself. Of course, classes and college are important, but even I, the out of touch professor, knows all you do is work, day and night. One day you will crash if you keep this pace up. Get some sleep son, and enjoy life right now as a twenty-something college student.” Alex can just see Washington standing behind his desk in his office moving his hands as he articulates each word. Alex should probably consider his advice, but he has worked so hard to get to where he is now -- to slow down now seems like giving up.

Speaking of that essay though, he should be working on it now, but, after almost passing out in his last lecture Alex decided he needed the brisk walk to the local coffee shop for a much-needed caffeine boost. He quickens his pace down the street as he sees the striped awning of “Impresso Espresso Café” come into view. He chuckles a bit to himself as he adjusts his computer bag on his shoulder; that name never fails to make him smile no matter how sleep deprived he is.

As he pushes open the door to the café, the delicious smell of coffee hits Alex. He breathes in deeply as he walks up to the line to order. Coffee is truly a gift to all of the sleep deprived population; no soda or energy drink can compare and he would destroy anyone in an argument who said otherwise. Alex steps up to the counter to talk to a slightly too energetic looking barista. 

“Hello sir, welcome to Impresso Espresso Café! My name is Danielle. how may I help you today?” asks the youthful looking brunette. 

“Hmm,” Alex looks at the menu for a moment, “I think I’ll have a large cup of French-pressed coffee, with the choice house beans.”

“Wonderful, can I get a name for your order please?” If it’s possible, she bouncily looked up from the notepad she had written his order on.

“My name is Alexander Hamilton, but I’m sure you only need Alex.”

“Yes, sir!” She scribbles his name and looks up again to smile. “It should be ready in a few minutes.”

“Thank you.” After he pays, Alex moves away from the counter to find a place to sit while he waits for his coffee. He spots an empty circular table and moves to sit there. He plops down in the chair and immediately goes to pull his laptop from his messenger bag. He could spend these next few minutes relaxing or he could be productive and continue working on writing that essay. Alex quickly becomes absorbed in writing; his fingers fly across the keys constantly tapping out new ideas.

====

This morning had been a rough one for John. His father had called demanding that he come home and visit the family. It didn’t matter that John’s classes had picked up in difficulty and speed lately. It didn’t matter that last time he had gone home it had ended in a heated yelling match between him and his father. It didn’t matter because when Henry Laurens says to come home … you come home because the consequences of refusing are far too severe to risk resisting.

After quietly agreeing to come home, since anytime he tried to speak he was cut off by his father, John need to calm down and get out of his dorm. The solution was his favorite café combined with his sketchbook. 

That’s how John ended up slumped in a leather armchair in the at the edge of the room in Impresso Espresso with his sketchbook perched on his leg. John sets down his pencil to take a sip of his peppermint tea. He sighs and sets his tea back on the end table beside him to look back at his sketch. The shape of the teacup in his drawing is not looking like the cream colored ceramic cup on the table at all. Ugh why can’t he get anything right. He almost wants to just give up on trying to relax and just go back to his dorm.

He flips to a new page in his sketchbook and heaves a heavy sigh, in need of better inspiration. John’s eyes skim over the coffee shop looking but not seeing anything of interest. But then, John’s eyes land on the person sitting across the room from him at a small circular table.

The man looks like a college student and is typing intently on his laptop. His eyebrows are slightly pinched together and his eyes are scanning the screen as the writes. His fingers seem to be flying across the keyboard and one strand of hair has come to hang in front of his face. He doesn’t seem to notice it as he is too focused on his task at hand. The man’s charming face has a determined expression that is perfect and intriguing -- exactly the beautiful inspiration John needed.

John gets excited about his new inspiration and begins to sketch the rough outline of his stranger’s posture. It doesn’t take long for the rough outline to be finished and so he looks up to find what he should focus on sketching next. 

John continues sneaking glances at the man across the room. He seems too engrossed in his work to notice that John’s glances turn into looks then into gazing. As the details of the drawing become more intricate, John needs to look at his handsome stranger longer in order to accurately capture the perfect determination in every detail.

====

It has been frequently remarked, that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country to decide, by their conduct and example, the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not, of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend, for their political constitutions, on accident and force.

Alex is the middle of finishing typing up a few more sentences to expand upon that concept when the barista from earlier taps him on the shoulder lightly. He jumps a little bit.

“Excuse me sir, you were so concentrated you didn’t hear me call your name. So here is your coffee, Alex.” She smiles and hands him the large coffee he ordered.

“I’m sorry, thank you very much.” Alex said taking a sip of his coffee already turning back to his work. Since he was already in the writing mindset, he decided to stay put in the café for now.

But as he tried to get back into the flow of writing, he couldn’t seem to focus. Alex shakes his head a bit and then starts typing, but there is something just a little off. The hair on the back of his neck stands up just a little bit; the feeling of someone watching him washes over him. He quickly scans the room and sees a college aged guy sitting in an armchair moving a pencil so it seems to be stroking across the paper.

The man is just slightly hunched over his sketchbook and although his hair is pulled back his curls seem to be framing his face. Since he is looking down it is easy to see the perfect spattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose and trickling over the rest of his face. Out of the corner of his mouth, Alex can see just a peep of tongue sticking out in concentration. God, he is adorable.

Alex shakes his head and chastises himself for getting distracted from his task. He goes back to typing on his laptop, but out of his peripheral vision he can’t help but continue to watch the young man. And then he notices something odd.

The man keeps looking up at him seeming to study him for a moment before going back to his drawing. Then it hits Alex that the guy he was checking out is drawing him. 

Alex looks up at the man and waits until he looks back up at him. The next time he looks up they make eye contact and Alex smirks at him. The man’s eyes go wide and his entire face turns red. He looks down, probably mortified.

====

John is working on getting the details around his stranger’s mouth just perfect when he looks up again for reference. He makes direct eye contact with the man. For a second he freezes, he is captivated by his intense staring eyes framed by tired bags. And then it hits him.

“Shit! Omg, why would this happen to me? OH MY GOD! OH SHIT! WHY? SHIT!” is exactly what runs through John’s head as a flush goes over his entire face as he keeps making eye contact from across the room. The man smirks at him. John quickly dips his head down to break the embarrassing eye contact to stare at the drawing that caused this.

“How could this happen to me? Shit. Why was I so stupid sketching a stranger and staring at him? I wish I could just sink into this chair and disappear.” John is so consumed by his mortification he doesn’t notice the handsome stranger stand up and make his way over to John.

“Can I at least see what I inspired?” John’s head whips up at the sound of the man’s voice directly in front of him. If it’s possible his face goes even more red.

“I-I’m so sorry,” John manages to stutter out, “I just, I don’t know, you were just looking so perfect and I just, I guess, needed to draw you? Oh my god, I-I should stop talking.” John babbles becoming more mortified by the second. The man smiles at him.

“Letting me see what you drew and giving me your number sounds like we could call it even to me.” The man says smoothly. John opens and closes his mouth once before he flips his sketchbook around and hands it to the man. He holds and studies the drawing with an expression John can’t read. 

John takes a moment to look more closely at him. He has facial hair that frames his lips as he is biting them slightly while focusing on the drawing and John can help but look for a moment too long. The thought crosses his mind about the feeling of his facial when kissing those lips. John quickly flicks his gaze away from the man’s face and looks down at their feet as his face heats up more. He is in the middle of studying the man’s sneakers that are pretty beaten up and look well worn when John looks up and finds the stranger grinning at him.

“This is incredible; you’re an amazing artist.” At this point, this only makes John even more speechless as his sketchbook is handed back to him. It’s unfair the man is so calm and collected, while John is falling apart in his own head. He just can’t wrap his head around what is happening right now and he has never blushed this hard in his entire life. Why the hell is this man complimenting him especially when he can’t even form coherent sentences.

“I’m Alexander. Alexander Hamilton.” The man is still smiling, a complete gentleman. “Your turn. What’s your name?”

“J-John Laurens.” He manages to stutter out, still completely flustered.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, John. I have to say I’m flattered; it’s not every day one gets to be an inspiration for someone like you.” Alex’s eyes twinkle as he smiles slyly. John takes a second before he can get any words out to respond.

“I’m sorry. I know it was weird, I swear I don’t do this, literally never. I don’t even know what I was doing really.”

“I’ll take that as an even better compliment then, if you don’t do it often then that would make me even more special.” John looks away and blushes even deeper at this comment. He starts to fiddle with the edge of a page in his sketchbook.

“So John, I think it was agreed upon that we would be even if I had the honor of looking at your drawing and managing to get your phone number.” Alex says tilting his head slightly down to look at John’s face. John looks up at Alex who is still standing in front of him.

“Are you sure?” John asks, completely confused as to why this guy is even interested in him at all.

“Completely and utterly sure.” The corner of Alex’s mouth tilts up as he takes out his phone and opens up a new contact which he then hands to John. John puts in his phone number, quickly tapping away at the screen, before he hands it back. Alex sends a quick text to the new number. John’s phone lights up in his pocket so he pulls it out.

“Perfect. Well John, since now we have a way to stay in touch, I’m afraid I must go. It has been very fun and I look forward to talking to you soon.” With that Alex gives one last smile before walking back towards his table to gather his things. John watches Alex pack up with his mouth hanging open slightly in disbelief. Before he walks out the door, Alex turns around to wave at John (and maybe quickly winks but John can’t be sure) and John manages a weak wave in return. Just like that Alex leaves and John slumps down completely confused.

Well if that wasn’t the simultaneously the best and worst thing that ever happened to him, John would be damned. John grins through his embarrassment feeling giddiness spread through him as he looks at his drawing, he knew that if nothing else this was going to be a quite a story. And he is excited to see where it goes.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! My name is Gracie and this is my first work on AO3. I'm excited to joining the community here.
> 
> All feedback is greatly appreciated! I always want to be improving, so please don't be shy!
> 
> See ya next time.


End file.
